EU Study Tour Overview
EU Study Tour and Internship Program
The EU Study Tour is a field school that offers a unique experiential learning opportunity for university students across Canada through a program of guided visits to the major institutions of the European Union and several other places.
About half the students on the Study Tour will complete an internship at an EU institution or civil society organizations following completion of the Tour.
The EU Study Tour and Internship Program is offered by the Canadian universities of the Network for European studies (Canada) and the University of Victoria, which has taken on the managing role since 2018.
More about the EU Study Tour
The EU Study Tour always takes place in May and builds on over 20 years of successful tours. It is considered to be an intensive program that attracts strong students that like a challenge. The goal is to offer a fully immersive program that allows students to learn about how the organizations and institutions students visit define, manage, and shape the current events and challenges they face. Each year, the Tour has some recurring themes and special themes. The recurring themes are the institutional architecture of the EU (e.g. enlargement and reform) and Canada-EU relations.
The special theme for 2026 was European Security in its many aspects (e.g. security threats from military conflict in the region, the dynamics of transatlantic relations, but may also include subthemes such as terrorism, cyber security, disinformation/post-truth, energy and supply chain dependence, and climate change and its effects). The special theme for 2027 is not yet known.
The 2026 edition of the Tour was two weeks, a little shorter than usually as many of the students that went on the Tour participated in a Model EU and an academic conference in the week prior to the Tour. Students traveled to Brussels (Belgium), Luxembourg, Leuven (Belgium), and finished again in Brussels. As with all Tours Students visited key EU institutions, such as:
- European Commission
- European Parliament
- Court of Justice of the EU
Visits also included other international organizations and representations (e.g. NATO and the Canadian Mission to the EU) and think tanks, civil society organizations, and universities.
The students that chose to join the EU Internship Program in 2026 as well, started their internships on Monday June 01, 2026, and finished them on Wednesday August 05, 2026. The dates and rough itinerary for the upcoming Tour in May 2027 will be known by the end of October 2026.
Recent iterations of the study tour:
2022 EUST Program - the study tour took place virtually and was followed by the usual in-person internships
How about the Internship Program?
Some participants now live and work in Europe as a result of the networks and experiences they built and gained through the internship program. EUSTIP internships are typically just over two months in duration and are only open to EU Study Tour students. While unpaid, these internships are quite a rare opportunity to gain valuable work experience in Europe, often in positions that are normally not available to non-European students!
Internships typically begin in the week following the completion of the study tour and are completed by the beginning of August. Occasionally the timing differs, depending on the flexibility of the employer (as well as the student). In 2026, internships will normally start on Monday, June 01 and will end on Wednesday, August 05. For more information, please click the link to get to the Internship Program tab.
Some stories and feedback of past students
Read some student testimonials here. Or read Anna’s story, who participated in 2017 or that of Alina, who went in 2019.
Video montage of the 12th EU study tour, held in May 2015.